SEPANGGAR: Life Water Industries Sdn Bhd (Life Water)’s bottled drinking water manufacturing plant at Kota Kinabalu Industrial Zone 8 is again experiencing severe water shortage. The last episode of water outage was last January.
Its Managing Director, Mr Liaw Hen Kong in a statement said “adequate water supply is
the lifeline of a drinking water manufacturing plant like Life Water and urged the authorities
to consider the consequences of water supply shortage to such an operation.”
He added that water disruption notice must not be issued at the very last minute to give
enough time for production planning.
Liaw also expressed concerns that water supplies to the industries running 24-hours are cut, disrupting their operation in order to supply to a residential area. There was no prior
engagement to seek opinion of Life Water or seek a win-win solution.
Liaw urged the authorities to seriously find solution to this perennial water shortage issues
affecting the Sabah industries.
The Company had received a notice of water supply disruption (rationing) from the Water
Department on 6th July informing that water supply would be cut on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 9:00pm to 9:00am affecting KKIP South (Tuaran), E-Residence and PPR Taman Sri Rugading so that they could supply water to Perumahan V12 Bukit Payung KKIP.
The disruption schedules were apparently not adhered to as Life Water have had zero
incoming water from State Water Department continuously since 8:00am on 11th July.
To mitigate the water shortage issue and keep its workers and machines and operation
running and ensure timely deliveries to its customers, Life Water resorted to purchasing water. This, not only is insufficient to meet the requirement of Life Water, it is not the most economical way to operate as the cost is high and the company does not wish to pass on the added cost to customers.
The plant is not operating at full capacity and the output is small. All these affect the company’s sales and profitability for as long as water supply has not resumed, while the company continues paying operating costs.
Life Water views with grave concerns that there had been no solution to the water shortage
issues affecting KKIP investors where many industries run 24-hours and depend heavily on
reliable water supplies to run sustainably.
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FYI: The Kota Kinabalu Industrial Pak (KKIP) is dubbed as the State Government’s catalyst for economic growth. It is meant to be a “modern integrated self-contained township that offers a comprehensive mix of investment, education, commerce, leisure and residential opportunities.”
